Preventing Negative Reviews With Digital Messaging

Negative Reviews. Even the best of the best hotels get them from time to time. These reviews can leave you and your staff feeling frustrated, and the only thing you have the power to do is try and retroactively rectify the situation. While following up with a negative review is best practice, how can you go about proactively unmasking these reviews before they hit the internet?

How Negative Reviews Arise

People post negative reviews all the time. Sometimes, people feel more comfortable posting about a negative experience after their hotel stay instead of speaking up about it while it is happening. For service professionals, this is not ideal. Something could go wrong with a guest's stay and it could go completely undetected by the hotel staff because they simply were unaware of the situation. The first time they hear of the incident could be by reading the review online. This means that in order to snag a negative review before it is posted on the web, you and your staff need to be dedicated to communicating with guests while they are staying at your property. More people are willing to discuss service recovery opportunities if they are simply asked.

Catching Your Guests In-House

Ensuring each individual is having a great stay while they are in-house may seem impossible to do. The case with many guests is that you simply do not get the face-to-face interaction with them in order to ask. Between busy families on vacation, bustling business travelers, and guests relaxing in their room, you may not have the opportunity to catch them in person to ask if things are going well or how you can improve their stay. Additionally, adding the pressure of checking in with each and every guest to your staff’s plate may seem like a daunting task. But, with digital messaging, it doesn’t have to be. Rather than hunting down guests and trying to keep track of who you have communicated with and who you haven’t—keep it streamlined and simple with a few texts!

How Digital Messaging Bridges the Gap

Digital messaging is an exceptional way to collect feedback during the guest’s stay. This way, if there is something that can be improved upon or if the guest has a complaint, you and your staff can rectify the issue, perform service recovery if needed, and catch a negative review before it heads out the door. This way, you are able to ensure that guests’ are having a great stay—and if they aren’t—you can do something about it! Not only can this prevent a negative review from being posted, but it could even trigger a positive review for the team’s attentiveness and fantastic customer service.

Building Your Customer Service Reputation

Texting is not only a great method for minimizing negative reviews, but also is helpful in general for your customer service reputation. A guest could be having a great stay, but the fact that your staff went the extra mile in sending them a text asking how things were going or if there is anything you can do for them will really be the icing on the cake.

While you cannot prevent negative reviews from every happening, you can be proactive and communicate with guests while you have them in-house. This communication is vital for catching feedback and providing service recovery, if needed. Digital messaging is an effective avenue for this communication to happen on a large scale so you can build your customer service reputation with all of your guests, as well as those shopping online for their future travels.